


december snapshots

by Ljparis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Christmas, Drinking, Gen, Hogwarts, Holidays, M/M, Marauders, Marauders' Era, Mistletoe, Multi, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-09-18 11:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16994346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljparis/pseuds/Ljparis
Summary: A few snapshots via Remus's POV of him and James and Sirius in various Decembers.





	december snapshots

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lorax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorax/gifts).



> 🎶 Here are a few of my favorite tropes! 🎶 
> 
> Scene [titles] taken from the following songs: You've Got a Friend in Me, Randy Newman; Telephone, Lady Gaga; Mistletoe, Justin Bieber; and Cold Feet, Above & Beyond.

[you've got a friend in me]

Remus woke, warm and cozy and with the feeling that he was being watched. He didn't want to move - wintertime at Hogwarts castle always called for the piling up of many blankets and warming charms that never lasted through the night. 

He opened one eye, wary about how early in the morning it was and not _really_ wanting to be out of bed yet. He was startled to find a large, black eye staring back at him, from the face of a large, regal-looking deer with antlers that almost tangled in the curtains around Remus's bed. 

He made a strangled, confused, wordless sound and sat up quickly, his foot kicking the black, furry lump that had been keeping him warm at the end of the bed. The lump gave a bark and lifted its head, looking over at Remus with an expression that said just how little it - he? - appreciated being disturbed.

"What the -?"

There was a squeak and a scurry, and then a rat - a rat! - appeared on the window sill. It sat up on its hind legs, its nose and whiskers twitching as it peered at Remus with a curious expression.

He must be dreaming, Remus thought. He shoved the heavy blankets out of the way and swung his legs off the side of the bed. His bare feet (Remus couldn't sleep in socks, no matter how many times he tried) hit the cold floor and he hissed.

When he looked up again, the very large deer was gone, replaced by James Potter, his glasses crooked and his hair sticking up in that way it always did in the mornings. "Surprise," he said, voice both sleep-raspy and lower than usual.

"What?"

"Happy Christmas, Remus," came Peter's voice beside him, on the nightstand, where just moments before there had been a rat. 

Sirius's chin popped over Remus's shoulder, his long hair making Remus's cheek and nose itch. "Best Christmas present ever?" he ventured, nuzzling the top of his head against Remus like he was … a dog.

"You did it?" Remus asked, eyes wide as he looked at each of his three friends with his mouth agape. "You can't possibly have done it. Fully-grown witches and wizards aren't even able to do it. How could you -?"

"Sheer will and the fact that we never break our promises," James said, even though they both knew Remus's questions were rhetorical. 

Sirius shook his head. "Never," he said, very, well, seriously.

Remus shook his head and looked down at his hands, which were shaking against his pajama-clad knees. "I didn't think you'd really do it," he whispered. 

When Sirius had brought up the idea that they could all become animagi and then they could be with Remus during the full moon without worrying about anything really dangerous, Remus had smiled and said that would be pretty cool, but it wasn't like he believed they would actually be able to do it. It wasn't an easy spell. It wasn't even a safe spell. They might have been in less danger hanging about Remus when he was a werewolf than they'd be trying to become animagi.

"All three of you?" he asked, looking over at Peter, mostly unintentionally.

"You saw it, Moony," James said. "All three of us."

Maybe he really _was_ dreaming. He pinched the inside of his elbow and it _hurt_. "Can I - see it again?" Remus asked, a moment later, his voice trembling. "Can I see you do it?"

James's smile widened. "It would be our pleasure, Moony," he said.

A moment later Remus was looking at the stag once again. Beside him, a large black dog put his paws and head in Remus's lap, tag flapping against the bed. On his other side, Peter was replaced by a rat scurrying back and forth on the window sill.

"Wow," Remus breathed out. To have friends who did _this_ for him? He could hardly believe it.

\--

[you called, I can't hear a thing]

The Lupins kept a telephone at home, though the only person who used it was Remus's mother, Hope, who was a muggle. So when it rang, Remus ignored it. It wasn't going to be for him, after all.

Until the first time it _was_ for him. 

"Remus, sweetheart, your friend James is on the phone." 

Remus looked up from the novel he was reading, unsure if he'd heard his mother correctly. He blinked. "What?"

"The phone," she said, tugging it toward him, the cord dragging behind her. "It's for you. Sorry, sweetheart, this is as far as it'll reach."

Carefully, Remus stuck his paper bookmark into the crease of the book, closed it, and stood. "Did you say James was on the phone?" he asked, his mind racing. What on Earth would cause James to find and use a telephone? Why not send an owl or Floo? He shook his head, trying not to let his thoughts stray too far into the realm of _this is very, very bad indeed_ as he reached for the phone.

"Hullo?" he greeted nervously.

"MOONY," came James's voice, too loudly, across the line. "I WASN'T SURE IF THIS WAS THE RIGHT NUMBER TO DIAL BUT THEN YOUR MUM ANSWERED - HULLO, MRS. LUPIN! - AND I WAS GLAD I'D GOT IT RIGHT."

Remus cleared his throat, holding the headset a few inches away from his tender ear. "Er, um, yeah, it's right. What's going on? Is something wrong?" He kept his voice at a normal volume, hoping that James would catch on quickly, without Remus having to correct him about it. No need to shout and such.

"PADFOOT IS HERE," he kept on shouting. "ARE YOU BUSY? CAN YOU COME?"

"Oy, Jim!" - Remus could hear Sirius in the background, his tone laced with what could only be described as a miserable groan - "Stop it w'the shouting." Now he was slurring. "M'head can't take it."

Remus frowned. "James," he said urgently. "What's wrong? Where are you calling from?"

"AT A PHONE BOOTH OUTSIDE SOME MUG-OOF-gle pub," James said, finally quieting though Remus suspected that was because Sirius clapped him upside the head. "Sorry. Outside some muggle pub. Can you come?"

Remus had a dozen - probably more! - questions running through his mind. "I - why - where - yeah, sure. I can come. Can you give me more than just 'some muggle pub'?" He looked around the room. His mother had left but he was pretty sure she was eavesdropping from the other room. And it wasn't like he could apparate there. Could he? No, he'd probably splinch himself.

"Just floo to my house," James said quickly. "We'll meet you there." 

Then the call disconnected and Remus was left standing there, confused and very worried, in the parlor. He hung up the phone quickly and hurried out of the room. Sure enough, his mother stood just outside of the door. "Everything all right, sweetheart?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, no - I don't know. I'm going over to the Potters' for a while." He didn't ask permission, something he would have normally done, and he didn't really even wait for his mother's response, just hurried into his bedroom and shoved a few things into a rucksack. He didn't even tied his shoes before surging into the fireplace.

He emerged into the Potters' back parlor coughing and floo-dusted, and stumbled forward in that way he often did after a disorienting floo trip. 

Mrs. Potter was waiting for him. "Remus, dear, I'm so glad you're here. They're just down the street. I think James is going to need some more help bringing Sirius home." She relieved him of his rucksack and offered him a glass of water, all the while nudging him out the door. "The Swashbuckler's Treasure," she said, taking the now-empty glass from him and patting him on the back. "It's about a ten minutes' walk but you can't miss it."

Remus blinked as the door shut behind him and tugged his coat more tightly around himself. Then he headed in the direction Mrs. Potter had pointed in and hoped he'd be able to find James and Sirius.

Find them he did. They were both on a bench - the one that wasn't under a streetlight - across the street from a pub that had a sign that 100% matched whatever name Mrs. Potter had given him. James seated and Sirius curled up beside him, head in James's lap. James looked up and spotted Remus. "Moony," he breathed out. Sirius didn't even lift his head. "We're both a little sloshed," he rambled on, "and I don't think I can get him back home without some help."

Remus stopped a few feet away then sighed, audibly, though neither James nor Sirius seemed to noticed. "What happened?" he asked, stepping forward. "Can you walk?"

James poked his finger at his chest. "Me? Yeah. Padfoot? No." As if to prove his point, James got up, wobbling a little but staying upright, though he didn't bother to make sure Sirius's head didn't hit the bench.

Another sigh. "All right. You walk. I've got Sirius." This would be so much easier if he could just whip out his wand and levitate Sirius back to the Potters' house, but even in Godric's Hollow there were too many muggles about and, besides, Remus was still underage. They were all underage. In fact -

"How did you manage to get drunk at a muggle pub?" he asked, grunting as he shoved his arms under Sirius's and hauled him to his feet. Remus might appear to be the most wiry of the three of them, but there was at least _something_ good that came from his lycanthropy, even when it wasn't the full moon. 

James flapped a hand at them. "Doesn't matter," he said. "What matters is you're here now and you're going to _help_."

"Moony," Sirius murmured. "Moony Moony Mooooooooooony." He draped himself against Remus as they walked - well, Remus _tried_ to walk and Sirius stumbled and almost fell - twice -back to the Potters'. James lagged behind, whistling and talking to himself. "I am _sooooooo_ glad for you, my Moony," Sirius continued on. Remus groaned a little and tried to get a better grip on Sirius as he began sliding down his side. "You're the _best_ , Moony. The best Moony in the whole entire wide world."

And on it went. What had taken Remus a brisk ten minutes or so to get to James and Sirius took over half an hour on the way back. By the time they made it back to James's house, his parents were in bed and the house was mostly dark. Mrs. Potter had, however, left hot tea and digestive biscuits out waiting for them.

Remus deposited Sirius on the sofa, pushed James in that same direction, and then, finally, removed his coat and scarf. He was sweating from the exertion of the walk and wearing too many layers. "All right," he said, a little louder and a little firmer than he meant to. "What's going _on_?"

Sirius buried his face in a cushion and tried unsuccessful to kick his boots off. He moaned.

James pushed himself up off of the couch and crossed over to Remus. He lowered his voice - enough that it was clear that he was trying to keep quiet but not enough to actually be quiet - and put a hand on Remus's shoulder. "Sirius left," he said. "He walked out on his mum. I haven't got the whole story out of him yet, but that's why he's here. He's been disowned or some other nonsense."

Disowned? Remus nearly repeated the word in disbelief. Although it wasn't too hard to believe that someone like Mrs. Black would do that, especially considering Sirius wasn't exactly the poster boy for pureblooded legacies. "Oh," he said. "Is he - why did - ?"

James shook his head and heaved himself back onto the sofa with Sirius. "He wanted to drink, so we drinked. Now we're gonna pass out. G'night, Moony."

Remus waited until the both of them were snoring a half-beat off from unison - a familiar sound for someone who was used to sharing a room with them in Gryffindor Tower - and then he curled up on Mr. Potter's favorite soft and lumpy easy chair and fell asleep himself.

\--

[I'ma be under the mistletoe]

Remus rounded the corner on his way from ancient runes to the Great Hall for an early lunch and ran straight into Sirius, who was leaning casually - too casually, in fact - against the stone wall, his shaggy hair in front of his eyes. "Oof," Remus grimaced. "Sorry, Padfoot."

"Nothing of it," Sirius quipped. He pushed away from the wall and slung one arm over Remus's shoulders. "Say, since I ran into you here, maybe you can help me with this most excellent idea I've just had."

Sirius hanging about right along Remus's regular route on what he had hoped to be a normal Friday afternoon was anything but regular or normal. "Right," Remus said. "What sort of excellent idea have you had this time?"

After a quick rummage around in his trousers pocket, Sirius held up a sprig of mistletoe with a showy _voila!_. Remus stopped walking and looked at his friend. "There are no excellent ideas that stem from mistletoe, Sirius," Remus said.

"A-ha! That's where you're wrong, Moony my good man. Because this is no ordinary mistletoe. This is _special_ mistletoe. This is very, _very_ special mistletoe."

Then, before Remus could humor Sirius and ask him just what about _this_ mistletoe was so special, Sirius flung it up in the air above their heads and it just stuck there, hanging - levitating - above them in the middle of the corridor.

"Sirius, what -" But Remus cut off his question sharply when he realized that he _couldn't move his feet_. It seemed as though he was stuck in place, a little too close (and somehow not close enough) to Sirius, in the middle of a well-travelled corridor during a break in class times, with a grinning Sirius who looked like he'd just received the best Christmas present event. "What did you _do_?" Remus moaned, knowing the answer without really needing to ask it.

Sirius's grin, somehow, widened. "It's _charmed_ mistletoe, Moony! That means you've got to kiss me before we can move."

Remus hung his head, the top of his head leaning against Sirius's chest, as he tried to decide whether or not to laugh or cry. All right, he wasn't really going to cry. But he also didn't really want to laugh either, even though he should have known better and suspected this exact thing the moment Sirius produced the mistletoe.

"Padfoot," Remus whined, maybe even whimpered.

Sirius's mouth came down close to Remus's ear, and Remus could fairly feel his smile. "So are you gonna kiss me, Moony?"

He brought his fist up against Sirius's chest and sighed again. Why was he always sighing so much around his friends? Oh, maybe because they were simultaneously exhausting and wonderful. "Oh very well," he said, lifting his head and then practically mashing his mouth against Sirius's.

It wasn't a particular good kiss on Remus's part. Maybe in another place or at another time, he would have put more effort into it, but the truth was, his face was warm and he knew he was blushing, and Sirius was still grinning even as Remus kissed him. It should have been a lot better.

"Right," Remus muttered, pulling back the moment he felt his legs give way, showing he was now unstuck. "I'm hungry," he said and then quickly ducked away, hurrying to the Great Hall.

Much later, after Remus spent the rest of the day not-so-subtly avoiding Sirius, Remus ended up back in Gryffindor Tower, surprised to find the dorm empty when he got there. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Shaking his head, Remus shrugged out of his robes and sat on the edge of his bed to take off his shoes. 

He heard Sirius and James on the stairs before they burst through the door.

"Moony!" James's face was flushed, his glasses crooked, and his hair stuck up all over, much as it was wont to do. "Where have you _been_ all my life?" He threw himself onto Remus's bed beside him. 

Remus rolled his eyes. "Probably doing my coursework and that Transfiguration essay, which is more than I can assume for either of you." He looked over at Sirius, surprised to find him still a few feet away, looking - sheepish? Was that possible for Sirius Black? "Did you leave your special mistletoe all over the school for unsuspecting people to get caught under?"

Sirius pulled the mistletoe out of his pocket and shrugged. "Only have the one sprig," he said, "and besides, it wasn't about a prank. It was -" He trailed off, mumbling a little, so uncharacteristic for him that Remus didn't know what to say besides barking out a 'what?' "It was just supposed to be for _us_ ," Sirius said, louder and slower and without eye contact.

James sat up, his shoulder and thigh pressed against Remus's. He leaned his cheek against Remus's shoulder. "I hope you mean all three of us, Padfoot," he said. "Because I am definitely not interested in sitting this one out."

Another moment and Sirius came and sat on Remus's other side, same way, shoulder and knee pressed against his. A Moony sandwich, James had once called it, when the three of them sat together like this. He turned the mistletoe over in his hand and then dropped it onto Remus's lap. "What do you say, Moony?"

The mistletoe poked against his palms, and he thumbed one of the berries as he considered the question. Truly, there wasn't anything to consider - the answer was yes - but Remus always liked forcing James and Sirius to be a patient, even for only a little while.

Once he felt James breathe out and squirm on his right and Sirius reach up to scratch behind his own ear, Remus held up the mistletoe. He flicked his wand at it until it hovered over his head and he felt like his bum was plastered to the bed. "Who wants to go first?" 

\--

[trampled by your cold feet]

Remus woke up when his bed partners did. Despite being a morning person, he was often the sort to sleep in, lounge in bed, enjoy its cozy comforts. That wasn't as easy when he shared his bed with James and Sirius. Or, rather, he shared _James's_ bed with James and Sirius. 

"Merlin, Moony," came Sirius's hoarse morning voice at his back. "Your feet are like ice! Bony icicles stabbing at my ankles and up my legs and - shite, you've got to start wearing socks to bed."

Remus grumbled a little and shook his head. He pressed his nose into James's arm and wiggled his behind against Sirius as he tried to warm himself up. "Mmn."

"Your nose!" James squealed. "Moony, why is your nose so damn cold?"

"I'm always cold," Remus said, the words lost into James's arm. 

Sirius muttered something under his breath that Remus was pretty sure was a curse word, but he was still half-asleep and didn't really care. How snuggly and comfortable and _wonderful_ it was to be caught in the middle of a Moony sandwich, waking up like this, on a chilly December morning.


End file.
